Ultimate Hoops Plano; Fall Week Six Recap

The Contract Killers shot a razor sharp 65% en route to a blowout victory. Joey Gladney was nearly perfect in 13 shots, hitting 12 to score 33 points and grabbed 14 boards. He also made 7 of 10 free throws. Micah Jordan also had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Player of the Game: Joey Gladney

The Bucket Squad trudges along. Alex Bauer has been a serious bright spot for the team. He had another 20-point game, 22 to be exact, and added 7 rebounds as well as 3 blocks and 2 steals.

8:00: Getting Older 75 (6-0), The Soldiers 74 (3-3), double Overtime

With his girl and precious youngster on hand, Erik Rouls had his best game of the year. He scored 19 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and set up the game winning play in this absolute thriller. Seriously, watch for it on ESPN Classic in the coming days. Rouls drove the length of the court with five seconds left in double OT. He missed, but drew the defense away and Ben Pemberton (16 points, 3 blocks) was wide open for the game winning putback at the buzzer.

Player of the Game: Erik Rouls

The Soldiers came within literal milliseconds of being the first team to defeat Getting Older this season. Big man Will Haynes had 25 points and 10 rebounds and Paul Starr had 18 but a third option never emerged. The Soldiers missed free throws and had defensive blunders as well as wasted possessions down the stretch. Options appeared limited when Getting Older buckled down. But this was still a very encouraging effort for The Soldiers.

9:00:Tropics 95 (3-3), The Sizzle 79 (2-4)

After Getting Older and Easy Money (who we’ll get to in a second), the third best team in Ultimate Hoops Plano is inconclusive, even six weeks in. The Tropics look more like their old selves, though, and put up another big win. This game wasn’t as close as it indicates. Abe Barnes has transitioned from an outside-in player to inside-out and the results have been total domination. He was unstoppable on Thursday night, scoring 43 big ones. He shot 6 of 12 from three. Sharpshooter Lorenzo Prats had 20 on six three’s of his own and also grabbed 8 rebounds. New addition Brett Williams had 12 points and 8 rebounds from the point guard spot.

Player of the Game: Absalom “Abe” Barnes

I was high on The Sizzle preseason. They’ve fooled me enough this season. Nothing looks easy for this team, and a lot of it appears self-inflicted. Antonio Blackmon was again great, scoring 22 points on 9 of 11 shooting. He made all 4 of his three point attempts. Ram Haddas had 18 points and 11 rebounds while Jackson Aitken poured in 19 points. Justin Williford had 7 assists.

10:00: Easy Money 100 (5-1), Giv3 N’ Go 72 (2-4)

Getting Older is undefeated and handed Easy Money their only loss. But Easy Money look really, really darn good right now. They were firing on all cylinders this week and blew out a solid Giv3 N’ Go team. All five Easy Money starters scored double figures. Kevin “Chip” Green led the way with 36, aided by 10 three pointers. Brandon Barkley had 19 points and 15 rebounds, including 6 offensive boards. BJ Valentine had 10 points and dished out 14 assists. Kevin Emasiani has 14 rebounds, 10 points and 5 steals. Kreston Martin added a big 21 with 3 steals of his own and made 5 of 10 three pointers. Five played and five completely balled out for Easy Money.

Player of the Game: Everyone

In defeat, Giv3’ N’ Go got 21 from Martin Salinas on 7 of 11 three pointers. Almost par for the course for the incredible shooter at this point. Alex Baird and Adam Bush snagged 8 rebounds while Brad McCallan had a game high 15. After go’ing the season 2-0, the team has Giv3’d 4 straight losses.